What is circular economy?

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Analysis:

The so-called circular economy is essentially an ecological economy, which requires ecological laws rather than mechanistic laws to guide the economic activities of human society. The difference between circular economy and traditional economy is that traditional economy is a linear economy with one-way flow of "resources-products-pollution emission", which is characterized by high exploitation, low utilization and high emission. In this economy, people extract materials and energy from the earth with high intensity, and then discharge a lot of pollution and waste into water system, air and soil. The utilization of resources is extensive and one-off, and the quantitative growth of economy is realized by constantly turning resources into waste. Unlike this, circular economy advocates a harmonious economic development model with the environment. It requires organizing economic activities into a feedback process of "resources-products-renewable resources", which is characterized by low exploitation, high utilization and low emission. All materials and energy should be used reasonably and permanently in this continuous economic cycle, so as to reduce the impact of economic activities on the natural environment to the smallest possible extent. Circular economy provides a strategic theoretical paradigm for the transformation from traditional economy to sustainable economy since industrialization, thus fundamentally solving the long-standing sharp contradiction between environment and development. "Reduction, reuse and recycling" is the most important practical operation principle of circular economy.

The concept of circular economy can be traced back to the rise of environmental protection in the 1960s. 1962, American ecologist Carlson published Silent Spring, pointing out the dangers faced by living things and human beings. The term "circular economy" was first put forward by American economist K. Paulding, which mainly refers to transforming the traditional linear growth economy that relies on resource consumption into an economy that relies on the recycling of ecological resources in the whole process of resource input, enterprise production, product consumption and its abandonment. Its "spaceship theory" can be regarded as an early representative of circular economy. The general content is: the earth is like a spaceship flying in space, relying on the constant consumption of its limited resources to survive. If resources are not developed rationally and the environment is destroyed, it will be destroyed like a spaceship. Therefore, the spacecraft economy needs a new concept of development: first, the past "growth" economy must be transformed into a "reserve" economy; Second, change the traditional "consumption economy" and replace it with a rest economy; Third, implement welfare economy and abandon the economy that only focuses on production; Fourth, we should establish a "circular" economy that will neither run out of resources nor cause environmental pollution and ecological damage, and can recover various substances to replace the "single plan" economy in the past.

After 1990s, developing knowledge economy and circular economy has become two major trends in the international community. China began to introduce the concept of circular economy in 1990s. Since then, the theoretical research and practice of circular economy have been deepened.

1998 introduced the concept of German circular economy and established the central position of the "3R" principle. 1999 integrates the development model of circular economy from the perspective of sustainable production; In 2002, the development significance of circular economy was recognized from the perspective of new industrialization; In 2003, circular economy was brought into Scientific Outlook on Development, and the development strategy of reduction was established. In 2004, it was proposed to vigorously develop circular economy from different spatial scales of cities, regions and countries.

As a Scientific Outlook on Development and a brand-new economic development model, circular economy has its own independent characteristics, which experts believe are mainly reflected in the following aspects:

The first is the new system view. Circulation refers to the movement process in a certain system, and the circular economy system is a large system composed of people, natural resources and science and technology. The concept of circular economy requires people not to stay out of this big system when considering production and consumption, but to study the economic principles that conform to objective laws as a part of this big system, and to take ecosystem construction such as "returning farmland to lakes", "returning farmland to forests" and "returning grazing to grassland" as the basic work to maintain the sustainable development of the big system.

The second is the new economic prospects. Among the elements of traditional industrial economy, capital is circular, labor is circular, and only natural resources are not circular. The concept of circular economy requires ecological laws to guide economic activities, not just mechanical engineering laws since the 9th century. Not only the engineering bearing capacity, but also the ecological bearing capacity should be considered. In the ecosystem, the cycle of economic activities exceeding the carrying capacity of resources is a vicious cycle, which will cause ecosystem degradation; Only a virtuous circle within the carrying capacity of resources can make the ecosystem develop in a balanced way.

The third is the new values. When the concept of circular economy considers nature, it is no longer regarded as a "quarry" and a "garbage dump" like the traditional industrial economy, nor is it just an available resource, but as the basis for human survival and an ecosystem that needs to maintain a virtuous circle; When considering science and technology, we should not only consider its ability to develop nature, but also fully consider its ability to repair the ecosystem and make it a technology beneficial to the environment; When considering people's own development, we should not only consider people's ability to conquer nature, but also pay attention to people's ability to live in harmony with nature and promote people's all-round development.

The fourth is the new production concept. The production concept of traditional industrial economy is to maximize the development and utilization of natural resources, maximize the creation of social wealth and maximize profits. The production concept of circular economy is to fully consider the carrying capacity of natural ecosystem, save natural resources as much as possible, continuously improve the utilization efficiency of natural resources, recycle resources and create benign social wealth. In the production process, the concept of circular economy requires to follow the "3R" principle: the principle of reducing resource utilization, that is, investing as little natural resources as possible at the input end of production; The principle of product reuse, that is, to extend the service life of the product as much as possible and use it in many occasions; The principle of waste recycling is to minimize waste emissions, strive to achieve harmless emissions and realize resource recycling. At the same time, it is also required to replace non-renewable resources with recyclable resources as much as possible in production, such as solar energy, wind energy, farm manure, etc., so that production can reasonably rely on natural ecological cycle; Use high technology as much as possible, and replace material input with knowledge input as much as possible, so as to achieve the harmonious unity of economy, society and ecology, enable human beings to produce and live in a good environment, and truly improve people's quality of life in an all-round way.

The fifth is the new consumption concept. The concept of circular economy requires getting rid of the misunderstanding of "desperate production and desperate consumption" in the traditional industrial economy, advocating moderate and layered consumption of materials, taking into account the recycling of waste while consuming, and establishing the concept of circular production and consumption. At the same time, the concept of circular economy requires that the production and consumption of disposable products with non-renewable resources as raw materials be restricted through taxation and administrative means, such as disposable articles in hotels, disposable tableware and luxurious packaging in restaurants.